“Goddamn it,” Beau swore. “You’re bleeding again. Ari, you have to get your thoughts under control and calm down. You can be pissed at me all you want, but I’m going to keep you alive and healthy, and I’m also going to get your parents back. You need to stop fighting me and believe in what I’ve promised you.”

She swiped at her nose with the back of her hand, smearing blood on her cheek in the process. Her head pounded, the pain intensifying from an already unbearable level. She closed her eyes and put her palms to her temples, pressing inward.

Beau swore again, violently, but when he wiped at the blood on her face, his touch was infinitely gentle, a direct contradiction to his black mood and fury.

“Lie down and try to get comfortable. I’ll make sure Doctor Carey gives you something for pain when you get to the clinic.”

She nodded, the slight movement sending shards of pain splintering through her skull. Maybe she did need medical help. This was new territory for her and she had no idea if this was a normal result of using her powers or not because she’d never tested them.

“I hurt,” she said quietly, conveying in those two words a wealth of emotion she could no longer suppress.

Beau cupped her face ever so gently in his palms and leaned in to press his forehead to hers. Like the kiss he’d pressed to her wound earlier, there was nothing sexual about the gesture and yet it was so intimate. Poignant. With those two touches, his mouth and now merely resting his forehead against hers and their breaths mingling, her heart swelled in her chest and she was nearly overcome with how reverent every touch, every action was that came from him.

“I know, honey,” Beau said just as quietly. “I can’t even imagine the pain you must be in and how exhausted, worried and sick at heart you must be. But do this for me. Take care of you first, okay? Let Doctor Carey at least ease your physical pain. The emotional pain will be much harder to bear, but you’re strong, Ari. You have me. From this point forward, consider me your constant shadow. You will never be out of my eyesight unless I have men I absolutely trust surrounding you. You are not alone. And you will get through this.”

Tears burned her eyelids and she blinked rapidly even though the slightest movement sent a jolt of pain through her head, echoing and re-echoing through her fragmented mind. Overcome and unable to possibly put to words what was in her heart, she instead curled her fingers around his hands cradling her face and she pulled them against her chest so he could feel the thud of her heartbeat. So he’d know the effect his solemn vow had on her.

He surprised her by brushing his lips, like the soft tip of a feather, over her brow and then drew back in a swift, jerky motion as if pulling himself back into awareness and the reality of the moment. He frowned but then seemed to make a concerted effort to school his features, but Ari couldn’t help but feel as though he’d rejected her in some way.

She turned, as had he, so he couldn’t see the flash of hurt in her eyes that she was sure was evident. Her parents had forever told her that her eyes always reflected her every emotion, her every thought. They’d laughingly told her she was utterly transparent and that it was a good thing she was inherently honest, because it was impossible for her to tell a lie and not be caught out.

She sighed, the flutter of warmth in her chest turning to a dull ache as she leaned over on her uninjured side across the backseat of the SUV. Frowning, she lifted her head when the door by her head opened and then gentle hands carefully lifted her head and a pillow was slid underneath her neck so she wasn’t lying at an awkward angle.

Hot and cold. Beau Devereaux was a puzzle she couldn’t decipher, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. One minute he was exceedingly tender, protective, demanding when it came to her care and well-being. The next he was stiff, withdrawn and looked as if he regretted so much as touching her.

She was too mentally and physically exhausted and drained to figure out the riddle of Beau’s dual personality. She closed her eyes, reaching for something warm and comforting, anything to ward off the sharp pain and the dull roar in her ears and the constant fear and worry for her family.

It suddenly struck her, that without her parents, she was utterly alone in the world. Her parents had lost their parents at a relatively young age. Her mother had been working her way through college when she’d met Ari’s father. He was ten years older, had already amassed a fortune and he’d swept her mother off her feet in a whirlwind romance that had resulted in their marriage in a matter of months.

She had no grandparents. No aunts, uncles, cousins. There was simply no one but her and her mother and father. It was why they were so close. Her father had always said that their family was all he could ever ask for, more than he’d ever hoped for, and considered his wife and his daughter the two most precious gifts in his life.

Her eyes squeezed shut even tighter as sadness overwhelmed her. Then she immediately castigated herself for the feeling of loss that had fallen over her. She wouldn’t give up hope. Hope was all she had and when she gave that up, she was well and truly lost.

She clung tenaciously to the promise Beau had given her more than once. Her father had chosen him. To a man who trusted no one, it had to mean something that he would entrust his daughter’s safety to the Devereauxs.

Had he known of Ramie’s psychic powers? Had that been why he’d been certain that Ari would be well received by Beau or Caleb? But no, Ramie and Caleb hadn’t been together that long. And her father had exacted her promise three years earlier, when she’d graduated from college an entire year early.